Bulang, Jan Erwin F.

May 21, 2015

2011-97523

PHLO 184

The Magicians Only Apprentice

I have been open on the idea that women are indeed oppressed. There could be several
various reasons as to why sexist behaviors happen. It may be in the form of media,
entertainment, politics, family, and so on. As we have discussed on our previous meetings, in a
patriarch-structured society, women tends to be unconscious of what is really their status in the
society. Here in the Philippines, we can in fact evidently observe sexist behaviors particularly in
forms of media entertainment such as in television commercials, variety shows, comedy gigs,
and the list goes on. We are all aware that the idea of gender equality is not new in our
vocabulary, and that, we even tend to explicitly encourage everyone to participate in advocacies
that would promote such movements. However, what are we missing out is that we
unconsciously support these sexist activities mostly in the forms of entertainment, clearly in
order to keep our delight. For this paper, I would like to squabble about Magic Shows as an
example of a sexist entertainment that is oppressive to women. It is just that it is not too obvious.
Magicians are entertainers who perform magic through creating illusions of supernatural
phenomena unusual to nature. In the old books, magician was described as a practitioner of
paranormal acts and has the ability to acquire knowledge (and or wisdom) using supernatural
means. In a sense, they are gifted human beings capable of doing transcendental things unnatural
to humans. Well of course those are the magicians of yesterday, what we have now are stage
magicians being invited in birthday events, conventions, big time occasions, and so on. They do
tricks to create an arena of amusement for their audience. They perform illusions in a form of
deceptions. They are capable of the ability on what they call sleight of hand in showing card
tricks. Magic shows are indeed one of the best live entertainments we have. But what do magic
shows have that are covertly oppressive to women? Why is it that women cannot achieve what
men can do in magic shows?
I have personally experienced the thrill being in a live magic show. Naturally, there is a
master magician who is most of the time a male, and with him, is a female assistant dressed in a
sexy (sometimes bunny costume) outfit in order to create enthusiasm to the crowd. Have you
ever wonder why is it always the case that the assistant of a magician has to be always a female
dressed in a sexy costume? Why cant it be a male dressed in gigolo macho sando and have the
situation reversed? The apparent answer for this is that when a magic show exhibits sexy ladies
there will be an influx of men audience, it draws them to watch, and women on the other hand
doesnt mind the situation as long they will be entertained on the show. Almost every aspect of
entertainers, say for instance in car shows, boxing round girls, halftime intermission in sports
events, etc women would always be the performers and their job is to entertain the audience
which is most of the time male seeking pleasure. If this is the case, the society is indeed working
in the favor of men seeking sexual pleasure to women in forms of entertainment. And women, on
one hand, dont mind this actuality that they have already accepted the facts of reality that they
will always be an entertainer to address the need of man for pleasure.
In magic shows, one of the classic examples of illusion acts is where there is an empty
box in which the female assistant of the master magician will contained herself and get locked in.
Then the magician will get a saw and cut the box in half and creates an illusion that the girl

Bulang, Jan Erwin F.

May 21, 2015

2011-97523

PHLO 184

inside it will be cut too. Isnt it a manifestation of a bad image for women getting them cut in
shows like that? I havent seen or heard a man getting cut in magic shows with those same
illusionary acts. Why is it always a lady not a gent? The answer yet again is to serve maleseeking pleasure. It pleases a guy to see a girl getting cut in half than a man himself getting the
same treatment. It is made to entertain boys than girls. In Circus Festivals, for example, the
magician will throw knives on a girl with an apple over her head to serve as the target. It will
always be the case that the girl will always be the assistant, not the other way around - for when
assuming that happens, it will be strange in the eyes of the spectators. The idea in magic shows is
that the female assistant will always be the underling of the master magician which is a male.
Therefore, when we look at it in a feminist perspective, the hierarchy of power is always in favor
of men being on top and women below them. Also I thought, if white female assistant will be
under the master magician in the hierarchy, what more of the colored female assistant? They
could be at the bottom most of the level.
According to Julian Mather, a Las Vegas-based lecturer, performer, and magician, there
could be several factors as to why there are only few magicians that are female, and what might
be the reasons at work in creating the wide gender gap in magic. These reasons speak about: 1.)
History and Geography, 2.) Interest level, 3.) The costume, 4.) Physical logistics, and 5.)
Lifestyle. He explained that for centuries, the practice of doing magic is a big no-no for women.
They have not much of a long rich history in performing magic. Second, women tend to be less
attracted to perform magic because of the long and arduous process and practices a magician will
undertake. The reason why for them it is enough to be just an assistant that is only mindful of
what the master magician commands. The costumes, apparently is not a match made for women
wherein in most magic tricks performed by magicians, they used to wear a long sleeves in order
to hide something that their tricks needed; however, you cant do tricks like that wearing a gown.
Obviously, physical differences does matter, for when a magic tricks or illusions requires brute
strength and endurance, a female body would be of disadvantage. And lastly, the lifestyle of
performing magic in shows, for the longest time, requires on-the-road attitude which he thinks
men is keener to than women (2013). Magic shows, in this sense, are sexist and oppressive. And
it leads us to concealment that it is not. We tend to believe that doing magic (might connotatively
mean acquiring greater knowledge or wisdom) is only a mans activity. And women are not
capable of having so. It manifests as a bad image for women in representing being the ignorant,
on one hand, men are the wise.
To conclude, I am not saying that women do not have a place in the realm of doing
magic. Of course, they are very much welcome to perform in front of varied audiences regardless
of gender, whatsoever. It is our utmost desire to leveled things up, and encourage women to
partake in this wonderful form of entertainment because ultimately what we [modern and
liberated 21st century people] are after are pure entertainment regardless of sex and gender. In
this patriarch structured society, women must voice out their sentiments and act to what the
society think as oppressive, for if when they are in mute, the problem with indifferences will
never be resolve. We look forward someday that the next David Copperfield or Harry Houdini
will be a fine lady; it is not a far fetch aspiration to begin with.
Reference:http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/03/why-are-there-so-few-femalemagicians/274099/ From: Mather, Julian (2013). (Accessed on May 20, 2015)